FORMER AFL stars Nick Dal Santo and Brian Lake says it appears Jake Stringer has run out of chances at the Western Bulldogs and the club was right to make the harsh call to put him up for trade.

Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge confirmed this week the club and player would look to part ways, with a combination of a lack of professionalism and off-field issues believed to be the contributing factors behind the decision.

Former St Kilda and North Melbourne player Dal Santo said while there would be frustration from supporters over the “brutal” call to trade a 23-year-old premiership player, the Dogs had to make the decision for the betterment of the club.

“Football clubs don’t stand still and football players come and go within the four walls of whatever club it may be,” Dal Santo said on Fox Footy’s AFL 360.

“And as much as you may feel you’re entitled to something and you’ve brought something extremely special to the Western Bulldogs — which they did last year — it’s all about getting better.

“They weren’t better this year and if Luke Beveridge, the coaching staff, admin staff think this is the way to go, I back it in.”

Dal Santo said while he thought the call on Stringer was “brutal”, tough calls on players were part of the modern game.

“I think it’s a little bit brutal, I understand that — it’s not the passion that we’ve grown to know about our game,” he said.

Former Bulldog Lake, who left Whitten Oval for Hawthorn months before Stringer was drafted, said he had some sympathy for the talented forward, who has dealt with a number of off-field issues.

“It is ruthless and he’s a young guy that’s had a lot of issues off-field,” Lake said on AFL 360.

“He was only 21, 22 years old, dealing with what he’s had to do. It’s not something that you can just switch off.

“You can’t rock up to training and just go ‘I can just switch into football mode’ — maybe if you’re a little bit more mature you can, there’s some players that can do it. Dusty Martin, you look at this year, the pressures he’s had, he’s been able to contribute.”

Stringer enjoyed a superb 2015 season, when he was named All-Australian.

But his form dropped off significantly in 2016, with both a shoulder injury and off-field issues contributing.

Lake said the club had ultimately reached breaking point.

Jake Stringer of the Bulldogs. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)Source:AAP

“Jake Stringer’s had these issues for a couple of years now. He did get dropped early, just before the finals last year and really struggled with a lot of things in 2016,” Lake said.

“But the worst thing is he understands it himself, what’s going on and the worst thing is it’s only for him to fix.

“All these issues are all based around him and unfortunately for a football club, when he’s 22,23 years old, you can only (go) so many times with helping a person, giving them support until it then affects the rest of the group.

“And unfortunately that’s the point where they are now.”

Lake said the Bulldogs ultimately had to make a call on Stringer to set the standard internally and ensure young players weren’t given the wrong impression of what was acceptable.

“What happens is there’s a guy who’s not living the club values and trademarks and still is playing football, not getting dropped,” he said.

“It just shows that ‘okay, well this guy can get away with it.’ A younger guy looks down and goes ‘well Jake can rock up late to training and still play next week, he’s not doing his rehab properly — well I don’t need to do it because I’ll still get a game.’

“So it’s just those bad things. You’d hope the leadership group, no doubt the leadership group would have spoken to him, tried to rev him up a little bit.

“But there’s a point where he needs to be slapped around the head a little bit in the sense of ‘well the football club doesn’t want me anymore, I have to move on.’”

Jake Stringer. (AAP Image/Julian Smith)Source:AAP

Dal Santo said he’d seen similar situations during his time in football.

The former star Saint and Roo said Stringer would have been aware he was on rocky ground for some time, before the Bulldogs ultimately had to make a call on him.

“I’ve been in situations with other players where they get multiple opportunities or chances but they’re well aware of it, that’s the other thing,” Dal Santo said.

“This is not being blindsided, this has been coming for a while, I’d only assume — and that’s the communication.

“And I look in from the outside and I look at Luke Beveridge — I assume that he’s a great communicator. I love the way that he presents and the way that the players have spoken about him.

“So this isn’t the first time that Jake would have heard about it. But to get to this point, there's been multiple conversations: ‘this is your last chance, this is your last chance’ — and only so many times can you say that until you have to pull the trigger.”